Tune of Home
by kirr1001
Summary: For the Kurosaki family's oldest child it isn't so easy to leave home like he expected but he's getting there. AU.


Sundays are supposed to be quiet in the household of Kurosaki - well of course not truly quiet, but not as hectic as every other day of a week.  
This Sunday happens to be exception because the eighteen years old Asami has packed up his bags and can now fully observe his parents, see how they are constantly moving around, his mother clearly nervous and so is his dad though he tries to hide it.

His father looks annoyed as he counts his money and his mother is somewhere in the kitchen making lunch for him though the dinner time is coming soon, but she makes it anyway, for the trip. Even his little sister Yua, who seems cool while reading her horror book, is shaking her right leg non-stop.

"Hey Asami, come here," his dad calls out from the bottom of the stairs. Asami still believes his dad gave him such a girlish name for revenge because he has to be stuck with _strawberry _for the rest of his life (Asami's grandfather believes so too) though his parents have said that they decided the name together.

"You come here, I have a long trip ahead."

"You can let your lazy ass fall asleep in the train, come on," is Ichigo Kurosaki's obvious answer. Asami stands up from the couch and leaves his sister alone in the living room.

When he's standing in front of his dad, he gets 100321.13 yen in his hand. "What- Dad! I'm not taking this!"

"Of course you are."

"No! You said yourself that from now on I have to get along on my own."

"I say lots of things," Ichigo shrugs and his brown eyes are serious. "You're going to be living in Tokyo. You need everything you can get from us and like hell I'm going to give anything less than that."

Asami says nothing because his dad is irritating and stubborn, has always been, but Asami still loves him, especially now so much that he doesn't really know what to do. For a moment he can't even look Ichigo directly so he settles to stare at few photographs on the table: one of his parents and others of him and his sister, both happily smiling in every one of them with brown eyes, his orange hair staying short and same, Yua's darker hair growing longer and longer through each photo.  
That's his family.

Ichigo doesn't seem to need his thanks and says, "So are you ready?" Asami faces his dad and gets one of his honest smiles. "To finally grow up?"

"I've been such a child 'till this day," he rolls his eyes but smiles back. "Thank you. Really."

"Anytime. Though your mom would've given you even more."

"But you didn't let her."

"We'd eat potatoes for two months and she'd be the one to complain about it the most."

"Mom! Dad's talking shit about you!" Yua's voice is heard from the living room.

Ichigo marches into the living room, Asami after him, and throws a pillow at the girl. "Yua, stop swearing and stop being a babbler," he tells her but Asami's sister only laughs.

"Yua-chan, listen to your dad and stop swearing!" Rukia Kurosaki yells from the kitchen. Her voice is deep and smooth at the same time but turns slightly deeper when she yells at Ichigo: "And Ichigo, you can be sure I'm going to bankai your ass!"

"I can just shikai yours before you can do that!"

That is part of Asami's parents' shinigami talk and he doesn't actually care to listen to that after so many years on his last moments in the house, so he goes to his bags and checks everything is in order and coming with him. He of course, as a child of two shinigamis, can see ghosts but isn't that interested about them like his sister. Yua has always chose to deal with them herself, Asami prefers to leave them for the rest of his family and focus on other stuff. Stuff like studying in Tokyo, in the most respected university of Japan. That seems to make his family and himself proud enough. He stares the money in his hand for a while before putting it deep inside his bag.

It's two and half o'clock and he has to start putting his coat on soon.

Ichigo comes and curiously testes the weigh of his bags, Yua is leaning against the wall and whistling a tune which she learned from a ghost or so she says. Asami is ready to go when his mom at last comes with a big lunch box on her hands. He knows she has avoided him today. Asami even asked Ichigo the reason for it and Ichigo told him that she simply didn't want to ruin his day by crying every minute, and Asami felt stupid for even asking. His mother was maybe the strongest person he knew and she always thought others before herself.

Rukia's hair is up because of her cooking in the kitchen and Asami can only guess what is inside the box but chooses to check it out later. "You had to put the food in this?" He jokes and asks seriously at the same time, as Rukia gives him the yellow bunny-pictured box.

"It's the biggest that we have," she answers and gives him a water bottle. Ichigo mouths to him _It's not, _though Asami knows it anyway. "Do you have everything?"

"Yeah."

"Clothes, money, phone?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Your underwear?" Yua asks.

"I left it under your pillow," he smirks because he's her big brother and she simply shows him her middle finger because she's a tween.

"Yua-chan!" their mother says to her sweetly but also seriously. "You should go get the present."

"Present?" Asami asks.

"Mooom," Yua moans. "He doesn't even need it."

"I want it," Asami says because he _has to_ know what it is. His parents are rushing Yua until she sighs and goes to upstairs.

"You're sure you have everything?" Rukia asks again and cups Asami's cheeks.

"He's not going to stay even if he has forgotten something, Rukia," his dad tries to lighten her mood.

"I'm talking to my son now," Rukia snaps.

"... my son too," Ichigo murmurs.

"Calm down, mom. I'll be alright," Asami tells her and means it. That is when Rukia's eyes start to tear up and she backs away a little from him. Ichigo tries to touch her arm but she shoves it away and covers her eyes. "Mom, c'mon..."

"I know, I know," she says softly. "Give me a minute."

Yua comes back then, smiles faintly when she sees her mother's state and looks almost shy as she gives Asami a tiny box. "Open it in the train, okay? And it's really wicked so you better take care of it."

"Thanks," he lets out a bit confused chuckle. "I should get going."

His mother looks like a wreck when she raises her head and she doesn't manage to stop crying. She tries to come and hug him calmly but in the end her arms squeeze his shoulders tightly and she cries even more. Asami knows then that his mother _is _the strongest person in the world so he lets her cry this one time and hugs her back, wrapping his arms around her smaller body and presses his head against her shoulder.

She calms down soon and Asami can see his father's face and it doesn't look very carefree either. "She wanted so much to be the cool mom, not the pathetic mom, when you leave," he says. Rukia lets Asami go and slaps Ichigo's arm in response but she's smiling now though it is a sad one. Asami feels how his throat has gotten tight all of sudden and tries to relax it by coughing. He fails anyway and looks at his parents, hoping that his face isn't sad.  
Without a warning his father pulls him in a light embrace by his neck but it's enough to make his face burn and he almost panics because he doesn't understand why he feels so sad since he has waited for this day for two years at least. Asami feels his dad's face against his hair, heavily pressing it against his scalp and he doesn't want to cry, _he doesn't want to start crying.  
_

Then he feels Yua's body pressed against his stomach and chest - her thin arms are tightly wrapped around his waist and Asami tries to keep himself calm by thinking about how tall she has gotten. Still he closes his eyes and hugs both his father and sister and almost hears his mother's sniffle in the background.

They stay that serious and sad only for that moment - soon Ichigo is joking how he's soon going to come back crying but they won't let him in and Rukia snaps how they're of course going to let him in and Asami snaps in return how he is definitely not going to come back crying. Then he leaves and hears how they loudly wish him good luck and it's a bit embarrassing and Yua is still whistling that stupid tune.

* * *

In the train, when he has energy after eating everything from the lunch box (his mother had made sure to put his every favorite snack and food in there), he opens the little present from his sister and it's a silver ring that says "banzai" in it. He laughs because "banzai" sounds so awkward to him and he suspects it isn't even real silver but his sister called it "wicked" and still gave it to him so he treasures it and puts it in his finger anyway.

He still feels sad but accepts it now because he has left his home and that is sad. He also feels excited and that is alright too because he is going to have another home, while the old one waits for his visit patiently.

* * *

AN:

I don't really know where this idea came from...

**Facts:**

**Asami **is really a girls name and means "morning beauty". **Banzai **means literally "ten thousand years (of life)" and it's japanese cheer like "long life" or "hurrah", and it's usually repeated three times.

**100321.13 yen** is 971.25 dollars, 700 euros, 580.93 pounds.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are warmly welcomed.

- kirr1001


End file.
